Interview about Thomas and the Gospels on Eerdword

Thanks to all the bloggers and social media folk who have posted this video, and many thanks to Eerdmans for filming it and editing it.  It's eight minutes or so long, and it's focus is my book Thomas and the Gospels (Eerdmans, SPCK, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk):




View the video on Eerdword here.

Amy-Jill Levine delivers Clark Lectures at Duke

The Kenneth Clark lectures are an annual highlight of the Duke calendar.  This year, Amy-Jill Levine is the Clark lecturer, and the series kicks off today:

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Kenneth W. Clark Lectures 2013:

Guest Speaker: Amy-Jill Levine

Amy-Jill Levine is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and College of Arts and Science; she is also Affiliated Professor, Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge U.K. Holding a B.A. from Smith College, and the M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University, she has honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, the University of South Carolina-Upstate, Drury University, and Christian Theological Seminary. Her recent books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus and The Meaning of the Bible: What the Jewish Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us (co-authored with Douglas Knight). With Marc Brettler she edited the Jewish Annotated New Testament (Oxford). A self-described Yankee Jewish feminist, Professor Levine is a member of Congregation Sherith Israel, an Orthodox Synagogue in Nashville, Tenn., although she is often quite unorthodox.

Schedule

Lecture 1
“’I didn't mean to sound anti-Jewish': Historical ignorance, cultural stereotype, and New Testament interpretation”
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
10:00 – 11:15 a.m.
0016 Westbrook, Duke Divinity School

Lecture 2
"Of Bridegrooms and Virgins: Jesus and Jewish Women"
Thursday, February 21, 2013
12:20 – 1:30 p.m.
0016 Westbrook, Duke Divinity School
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Late Antiquity Made New: Duke Symposium Celebrating Elizabeth Clark

I am delighted to post this notice of a forthcoming symposium honouring the work of my colleague Elizabeth Clark:

LATE ANTIQUITY MADE NEW

A CELEBRATION OF THE WORK OF ELIZABETH A. CLARK

April 11-13, 2013

Duke University

Durham, NC 27708

Full Program & Schedule:  http://sites.duke.edu/clas/symposium-2013/symposium-schedule/

Registration (Free and Open to all!):  http://tinyurl.com/bsbby3q

Late Antiquity Made New brings together more than fifty internationally recognized scholars of Late Ancient and Early Christian Studies and their related disciplines.  The conference has two projects: documenting the emergence of “Late Antiquity” as a discipline within and beyond the Study of Religion during the past four decades, and exploring directions for contemporary and future research in the field.

With Keynotes By:

Patricia Cox Miller (Syracuse): “Caressing the Wolf's Head: Reading Animals in Early Christianity”

Dale Martin (Yale): “Armed and Not Dangerous: Jesus in Jerusalem”

Catherine Chin (UC-Davis): “Aristocratic and Apostolic Genealogies in the Late Fourth Century”

We warmly welcome all guests.  For further information, please contact Maria Doerfler at med33@duke.edu

Sponsored by

John-Kelly C. Warren Roman Catholic Studies Endowment

Evelyn and Valfrid Palmer Roman Catholic Studies Endowment

Dennis and Rita Meyer Endowment Fund

The Center for Jewish Studies

The Duke/UNC Center for Late Ancient Studies

Duke Department of Religion

Duke Divinity School

Duke University Graduate School

The Academy of American Religion

Department of Religious Studies, UNC Chapel Hill

Duke History Department

Trinity College of Arts and Sciences

Office of the Provost

More Bible Series News and Video Clips

It's been a week or two since I've posted anything on the forthcoming History Channel Series The Bible, executive produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.  I and several others (including Helen Bond, Paula Gooder, Candida Moss and Craig Evans) acted as academic consultants on the series.  An extended trailer is now available here:





Several more clips are also available on Youtube. This is from episode 1 about Abraham and features interview footage with British actor Gary Oliver who plays Abraham:





I love the fact that he remembers watching Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth when he was eleven, which means that he is a similar age to me -- and that was a memorable experience in my life too.

This video is in the same format -- interview footage with British actor Lonyo Engele who plays, rather appropriately, the Guardian Angel, also in the first episode. He also talks about how he has seven angel tattoos on his body! There is some footage here of the destruction of Sodom.





This one is in the same format again, an interview with British actress Kierston Wareing who plays Delilah in Episode 3, along with footage from that episode. There are some interesting reflections here on the accent she used; she is an Eastenders actress who has a cockney-sounding accent but she wants to make sure that she can be understood by the American audience:





From the same episode, British actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster plays Samson's mother. There are again video clips and she talks about how she had to sit in the make-up chair for hours when she is aged.





And the great thing about Sharon Duncan-Brewster is that she has also appeared in Doctor Who, in the 2009 tenth doctor "special" "Waters of Mars".

Lots more stuff is appearing regularly on The Bible Series website including useful episode summaries.  I will continue to post blog updates here as these new publicity materials appear.  Previous posts under this label: The Bible Series.  See also Facebook and Twitter.

Myths of Mary and the Married Jesus on Youtube

The Cadbury lecture I gave in Birmingham just over a week ago is now available on Youtube here:



Or watch it on Youtube here.  The lecture is 48 minutes long.  It features much of the powerpoint, but some slides have been omitted for copyright reasons. All of the Q&A is also features, though under the veil of darkness.

Update (12 February 2013): I have now made the audio available as an extended episode of the NT Pod.  This version has the advantage of enabling you to hear the talk without seeing the speaker constantly waving his arms around.

Myths of Mary and the Married Jesus

I am back in England for a couple of days and I'm here to give the second of this year's Cadbury Lectures at the University of Birmingham, which was once my happy home (1995-2005).  Details of this year's Cadbury Lectures are here:

The Cadbury Lectures 2013: Religion out of the Box: Dialogues with academy, society and culture

22 January -- 19 March

My title and abstract:

Myths of Mary and the married Jesus: how popular culture is affecting scholarship

From Jesus Christ Superstar to the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife, from the Last Temptation of Christ to the Da Vinci Code, this generation has seen a radical alteration in our perspectives on key characters in early Christianity. Mary Magdalene has been transformed from a repentant prostitute to the first apostle. Now she is even Jesus’ wife. But is Mary’s rehabilitation rooted in reassessments of the primary texts or is it a product of our own immersion in popular culture? What do we know about her Gospel, her tomb, her family? The real story of Mary’s rejuvenation is so mysterious that it leads us to question the identity of the woman we thought we knew.

It will be a fully illustrated talk (as long as we can get the powerpoint working) and it's tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6.

I am also looking forward to speaking today in the Biblical Studies Colloquium on the topic "How reliable is the story of the Nag Hammadi discoveries".  But I am of course most looking forward to catching up with old friends and colleagues in Birmingham!

Frans Neirynck (1927-2012)

I have only just found out that one of the great New Testament scholars, Frans Neirynck, has died (Death notice here).  Any scholar who had a three-thick-volume Festschrift is someone to be reckoned with.  I suppose the thing that he will be remembered for more than anything else is the detail and accuracy of his scholarship -- his articles were meticulously researched and presented with great clarity.

I have not been able to find much on the net in the way of obituaries, but Biblical Studies at Leuven has this fine tribute:

A tribute to Prof. Frans Neirynck

I never met Prof. Neirynck myself; he retired from the conference circuit at about the time that I was beginning to go to events.  From what I hear, though, he was a formidable character and a mighty warrior for his favourite positions, especially the Two Source Theory and John's use of the Synoptics.

Christopher Evans Memorial Service & Tributes

There was a memorial service for Christopher Evans last week at King's College, London and there are some details on the King's College website including two tributes that make delightful reading (both Word documents):

Right Revd Dr Peter Selby

Professor Morna Hooker

More on Christopher Evans, including obituaries, here.

Jesus and Jesus' Wife Walking on Water

In The Jewish Press, Yori Yanover adds this excellent picture of "that man" and "that woman" walking on water.  I must admit that I am rather taken by this picture.

Since the author of the article copies most of the content from John Finnegan's article in the Harvard Crimson without acknowledgement, I am sure he won't mind my reproducing his picture here.

Harvard Crimson on the Jesus' Wife Fragment

Harvard Crimson, the student paper of Harvard University, has an article today on the Jesus' Wife Fragment:

'Jesus's Wife' Parchment Continues to Ignite Controversy
By JOHN P. FINNEGAN, CR

According to Kathryn Dodgson, director of communications at HDS, the publication is waiting to print King’s article while the papyrus undergoes scientific analysis.

Once she receives the results of that analysis, King will incorporate them into the article for the Harvard Theological Review, Dodgson wrote in an email.

Currently analysts are testing the ink on the fragment to confirm that it dates from the fourth century like the papyrus itself, which has already been tested.

King could not be reached for comment on this article.

There are also comments in the article from Greg Sterling, Janet Timbie and me.

I'm sure many of my readers will have spotted the mistake in the title of the piece -- it's not "parchment".

The return of my blogroll

I had to get rid of my blogroll recently because a couple of blogs were getting flagged up by Google (incorrectly) as featuring malware, but then my automated links were being interpreted by Google as linking to the malware.  Happily, these issues seem now to have resolved themselves and I've added by blogroll again on the right hand side of the page.  

As it happens, it is fortuitous because blogger has ironed out some problems with its automated blogroll delivery, and it seems that now all the biblioblogs (and related blogs) that I subscribe to are showing up, in order of the most recent to post at the top.

The Bible Series Website and new video

More scenes from The Bible Series are now available in this new Youtube video set to a certain Pastor Charles Jenkins singing "Awesome":



The series now has its own website with lots of photographs and video clips here:

The Bible

I should perhaps mention again that there were several academic consultants involved in this project and I was one of them.

More on The Bible Series here.

Appearance on 700 Club Interactive, on the Jesus Wife Fragment

There's been a rumour circulating that I appeared on CBN's 700 Club Interactive just before Christmas, and I can confirm that the rumours are true.  It was something of a new experience for me.  I have to confess that I had not heard of the programme before they got in touch with me, but when I mentioned it to others, they were able to fill me in.  The topic was the Jesus' Wife Fragment, which they spent ten minutes or so discussing from about half-way through the programme (begin at 14:48).  There is a short report, featuring Karen King and Claire Pfann (University of the Holy Land) and then Gordon Robertson interviews me via Skype.  Here's the Youtube version:




Or you can view it on CBN here:




I enjoyed taking part in the programme, but working with Skype was a little stressful as the connection went pretty blurry from about half-way through.

Was Jesus Married to Mary Magdalene? at Baylor

I'm lecturing at Baylor University tomorrow on the topic, "Was Jesus Married to Mary Magdalene?"  They have put this nice poster together, which features details of time and location.  I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Life of St Paul (1938) on Youtube

You can now watch The Life of St Paul (dir. Norman Walker, 1938) in its entirety on Youtube.  It's not a film that I had ever seen;  in fact, I was only dimly aware of its existence.  Since it is not easy to get hold of on DVD, this is good news for Bible Film enthusiasts:

It is two hours long and stars Neal Arden as Paul.  IMDb's page on the film is here: Life of St Paul (1938).

The Bible Series Official Trailer

There's a new "official trailer" out now for The Bible series coming in March from History Channel:


More on The Bible Series here.

Holy Land Archaeology at Duke

My colleagues Eric Meyers and Carol Meyers are once again leading a group of a students in an intensive study of Holy Land Archaeology.

They flew out at the end of December and are currently busy touring Israel, seeing sites, listening to one another's insights on the key archaeological, historical and political issues:

Holy Land Archaeology at Duke

The photograph here is nicked from Ben Gordon, who is TAing on the tour, and it depicts the group gathered for the discussion by Iron Age storehouses at Hazor.

As you'd expect from Duke students (I know, I would say this, but it's true), the writing on the blog is clear and full of great insights.  The whole blog is superbly illustrated with lots of great pics, including this one of "verifiable archaeological rock stars" Eric Meyers and Carol Meyers:

Standing with Christian Brady

Our friend and fellow-blogger Christian Brady has suffered the unimaginable grief this week of the death of his son Mack.

This morning, we are standing with him.

May light perpetual shine upon him.

Beyond Belief does Apocalyptic

The most recent episode of Radio 4's Beyond Belief discusses Apocalyptic. One of the guests is Philip Alexander, professor of Post-Biblical Jewish Literature at the University of Manchester, whose work will be well-known to many readers:

Beyond Belief: Apocalyptic

If you get to listen to this programme, it's because the Domesday scenario - according to which the world would end on December 21st - did not happen. The interpretation of the Mayan calendar that arrived at this date was derided by most Mayan scholars, but this hasn't stopped the media camping out in the French village of Bugarach, identified as the only village on earth which was to be spared destruction.

Apocalyptic ideas about the end of the world, as we in the West understand them, have their roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions. The popular imagery - the Mark of the Beast, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Whore of Babylon - feed the imagination of film makers and writers, who draw upon Biblical imagery.

Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the nature and role of apocalyptic ideas on western religion and culture are Dr Philip Alexander, Professor of Post Biblical Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester; Dr Stefan Skrimshire, lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds; and Rev Dr Steve Jeffrey minister of Emmanuel Evangelical Church in North London. 

It's a good listen.  You can listen again at the link above, or you can download the podcast.  The programme is thirty minutes long.

Still no news on the Jesus' Wife Fragment

CNN's Belief Blog has today published an update on the testing of the Jesus' Wife Fragment:

"Jesus Wife" fragment gets more testing, delays article
 Eric Marrapodi

The news is that there is no news:

"We're moving ahead with the testing, but it is not yet complete, and so the article will await until we have the results," King said in an email to CNN.

"The owner of the fragment has been making arrangements for further testing and analysis of the fragment, including testing by independent laboratories with the resources and specific expertise necessary to produce and interpret reliable results. This testing is still underway," Kathyrn Dodgson, director of communications for the Harvard Divinity School, said in a email to CNN.

"Harvard Theological Review is planning to publish Professor King’s paper after conclusion of all the testing so that the results may be incorporated," Dodgson said. "Until testing is complete, there is nothing more to say at this point."

However, one useful point is here clarified, that the tests are being arranged not by Harvard but by the still anonymous "owner of the fragment".

For more on the fragment, including my own reflections on what I think is a forgery, see The Gospel of Jesus' Wife.